Chapter 4: Round and Round
A woman in a blue scrubs ordered the nurses around, hooking up IVs and wrapping bandages
"Were they unconscious when you found them?" She asked.
Lir nodded, "I think they were in shock."
She pulled her eyebrows together, frowned, and turned back to Shadow Gear.
"Thank you, you can go now."
Lir nodded again and slipped out the door. Her stomach churned with a nervous uneasiness that first manifested when she discovered the three mages in the park. The sound of footsteps running up the stairs met her ears just before Lucy came running around the corner. The salty scent of tears reached her before Lucy did.
"Are they okay?" she asked, her voice thick and strained.
"For the most part."
"This is terrible," Lucy said, before bolting past Lir into Shadow Gear's room.
Lir walked out of the hospital as fast as possible, trying to get to fresh air that wasn't soaked in antiseptic fumes. She burst out on to the street and was immediately swept up in the flow of the bustling crowd.
She shut her brain off until she reached the guild hall and the sound of angry shouting snapped her out of her stupor. Her heartbeat began to hammer against her ribs as she approached the door and anxiety crept up her spine. But her restlessness meant virtually nothing in the sea of boiling rage that the main guild hall had become. Cries for a fight filled the room and magical energy crackled in the air.
"Let's just storm over there and beat them up!"
"We should ambush them when they come back!"
Lir sat down at an empty table and, thankfully, no one tried to drag her into the pandemonium. However, only a few minutes later the entire guild fell silent and the apoplectic jostling ceased. She looked up to see Makarov standing on the the big stage at the front of the guild. The entire room filled with a tense silence.
"We will not stand for the brutalization of our members! We are taking this fight to Phantom Lord!" he declared.
The guild erupted into angry cheering, thrusting their fists in the air.
It was too much. Her head reeled with the pressure and her heart pounded against her chest like a wild animal trying to escape. Half of the members poured out the front door in an livid rush. Lir remained sitting.
"Are you coming?" Gray asked.
Her mouth went dry, forcing her to swallow.
"I don't know. I think maybe I shouldn't be involved in all this."
Guilt settled in her gut like a rock. She arguably felt worse now than she had back in the bloodthirsty guild hall. A sense of shame mixed with self - disappointment slowed her walk to a meander. But she pushed any thoughts other than "keep moving" down, smothering them under memories she didn't wish to repeat in the future.
But the pulling in her chest was impossible to ignore. Fairy Tail was different. They declared war on a dark guild all for the sake of a girl who had been with them for only a few months.
She cast a look up the road, before turning back towards the south.
"I'm going fucking crazy," she muttered.
She leapt into the river, only letting herself sink up to her shins. With one swing of her arms, a current was propelling her in the direction of Magnolia. The wind whipped her hair back as she picked up speed and the spray soaked her legs. She had been walking for half the day so she had a long way to go.
People were fleeing the city as she approached, meaning something was going horribly wrong. Even as she hurdled past them on the river she picked up hints of panicked conversations.
"It's a guild war!"
"Phantom Lord is attacking Fairy Tail's guild hall!"
"There's a giant robot in the bay!
A giant robot?
She picked up speed, coming dangerously close to breaking the wave she was riding. The sounds of explosions and fighting filled the air. She rounded the final turn that lead into the bay and found a giant, battle-mech that resembled a building standing shin deep in the water.
"Holy fuck," she muttered.
Some of the Fairy Tail mages battled strange, shadowy figures that darted around through the air, but were ultimately struggling to prevent them from destroying the guild hall. She sucked in a deep breath through her nose, trying to pick up any scents that would give her a clue as to where her help was needed most. A thousand different odors melted together, creating the pungent smell of battle. However, one was increasingly familiar if not slightly different. She lifted her head towards the battle-mech, straining all her senses. The pounding rumbles of a fight reached her, along with the scent of a dragon slayer mixed with melting metal.
Like a lightbulb flicking on in her head, she realized Black Steel was a dragon slayer. She propelled herself in the battle-mechs direction, then launched herself up with a geyser and grabbed on to the outside of its chest. Two large pipes stuck out of its torso to her left, easily big enough for her to slide through. She scaled across the brick wall and then swung herself inside. She dropped, rather than slid as the pipe was steeper than she thought.
The smells of burning coal and some sort of lacrima core mixed with various types of magic filled the air. She sucked in a deep breath and followed the scent of dragon. Half of the mech was destroyed, collapsed walls and pipes spraying water littered the whole structure. Then she reached a dead end, a brick wall. But she heard the fight on the other side. It didn't sound like it was going well for Natsu, so rather than go around she used a focused Water Dragon's Waterspout to cut a circle in the bricks. She planted a foot on the ring, kicked it in, and jumped through.
Natsu slammed into the wall right next to her before crumbling to the ground.
"Hey Lir, glad you came back," he said without an ounce of bitterness.
She helped him to stand and let him lean on her shoulder.
"What, don't think you can beat me Salamander?"
A man probably a little older than herself with wild, long, black hair and a ton of facial piercings stood across the room from them, eating a piece of a metal crossbeam. His whole body was coated in metal scales and his right arm melded into a broadsword.
"I really need to get some fire," Natsu said. "I'm running low on magic energy, and he's been eating metal this whole time."
Lir glanced around the room and found a surprising lack of flames for all the damage. Lucy and Happy were standing precariously close to the fight, and the celestial spirit mage looked pretty banged up.
"Get Lucy out of here and find some fire. I'll hold him off," she said.
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
Natsu staggered towards Lucy and Lir stepped forward to get Black Steel's attention.
"Who the hell'er you?" he demanded.
"The Leviathan."
"Well, Leviathan, you stand even less of a chance than Salamander," he taunted, waving his sword.
She assumed a fighting stance and watched him carefully. He wasted no time in going on the attack, trying to hit her with his sword. She side stepped around his swings. But damn he was fast. An iron rod struck her in the gut, knocking the wind out of her. He followed with and Iron Dragon's Roar that she was only barely able to dodge.
"Gettin' tired yet?"
"Not a chance," she replied. "Water Dragon's Blue Streak!"
A blue aura engulfed her body and made her feel thirty pounds lighter, a lucky pick of spells considering Black Steel's next move.
"Iron Dragon's Kunai!"
Several small knives launched right at her, but with her Blue Streak she dodged them with little effort.
"Water Dragon's Breaker!"
She slung a wave at him, knocking him back.
"Water Dragon's Waterspout!"
Several pillars of water shot up around him but he only managed to dodge two before crashing into a third. She took advantage of his temporary shock and sprinted at him, before landing a kick on the side of his head. He staggered away but managed to stay on his feet.
"You're gonna pay for that."
"Not if you can't catch me," she said, dodging another Kunai.
"I don't gotta catch you. Just beat the shit outta you!"
He shot another pillar of iron at her, which she dodged. But he made a sweeping arc with it and caught her in the side. She hit the ground hard and recovered quickly, rolling back into a stand, only to take a Kunai to the shoulder.
"Ah fuck!"
She yanked it out, probably not the best idea as the wound started to pour blood, and hurled it right back at him out of spite. He simply deflected it with his iron coated arm.
"Water Dragon's Roar!" she barely caught him with the geyser.
"Iron Dragon's Club!"
The iron rod hit her left shoulder, too close to the knife wound for comfort, and sent her flying into the back wall.
"Iron Dragon's Roar!"
Still stunned from the impact, she took the full brunt of the attack to her chest.
His ability to pummel her weak defense from a distance was doing her in. If she could get him on the ground, she could probably subdue him for long enough that Natsu would return.
"Water Dragon's Steam Blast!"
The entire room filled to the brim with thick, muggy steam that made it uncomfortable to breath.
"Really? You're resortin' to cheap tricks?" he shouted.
Such a high concentration of water vapor in the air disrupted scent trails, but not for Lir. She followed his metallic scent and then took off at a sprint when a dark shadow emerged through the fog. With every ounce of strength she could force out of her legs, she leapt off the ground and tackled Black Steel from behind. He let out a surprised swear. In the split second he was stunned, she hooked her legs around his waist and locked her arms in a chokehold around his neck. He tried to stand, so she pressed his legs apart with her feet, leaving him almost pinned facedown on the floor. The iron scales covering his back scraped up her exposed stomach and arms, but she maintained the hold. He started writhing as he realized she was about to choke him out. She pulled her arms tighter around his throat.
"Pass out! Pass out, you fuck!"
He tried to hit her in the ribs with his elbows but couldn't reach. Although, that didn't matter because the jostling shredded her torso and arms. He seemed to catch on to the fact and started thrashing as much as he could.
"Damnit!" she exclaimed as her arms gave away to his grinding scales.
He threw her off and she scrambled to her feet.
He chuckled, but it turned into a cough, "You're not bad."
She backed up, holding her arms away from her body because they stung from the cuts and scrapes. An iron rod shot right at her head, and she ducked out of the way.
"But still not good enough to win."
He fired a barrage of iron rods, of which she only managed to avoid half. Her energy was almost gone and it was damn near impossible to fight with the entire front of her body ripped to shreds.
Where the hell is Natsu?!
"Iron Dragon's Hard Fist!"
In her daze, he closed all the ground between them, so he could land a hard punch on her. She staggered back, but he stayed on her and kicked her square in the stomach so hard that she toppled over backwards and skidded across the floor.
"Tell me somethin'." he said, in a voice that made him seem genuinely curious and not a dark guild asshole.
"What?" She spat.
"You ain't a Fairy Tail mage, and I've never heard a damn thing about you. Why are you helping them?"
Why couldn't he just hit her? Why did he have to ask that? She didn't know herself, never mind explaining it to some stranger who was beating the shit out of her. She focused on slowing her breathing down so whatever bullshit came out of her mouth at least had a semblance of confidence about it. But as she sucked in a breath through her nose the scent of smoke and burning hit her.
"You know, I've been asking myself that all day. I have no idea why I came back, but I'm fucking glad I did."
Black Steel gave her a befuddled expression before the smell finally penetrated the remaining mist and reached him. He whipped around just in time to receive a fire fueled punch in the face from Natsu. Lir rolled out of the way as their fight resumed.
"Lir! Are you alright?" Lucy cried, running towards her.
"Yeah, yeah, I've had worse," she replied, waving it off.
"It looks like he dragged you over broken glass! What happened?"
A thundering crash as Natsu and Black Steel collided into a wall of the battle-mech cut her off. Natsu pitched Black Steel across the room with a Fire Dragon's Wing Attack.
"I thought I could choke him out, but I didn't really account for the iron scales."
Lucy helped her to her feet and they watched the fight unfurl. Natsu seemed to be taking ground with every attack. Black Steel's moves slowed and lost power. Natsu slammed Black Steel into the ground, sending a large chunk of rubble hurling right for them.
"Water Dragon's Seawall!"
Lir threw up a thick wall of water, catching the debris, then flinging it away.
"He's a fan of collateral damage, isn't he?"
"You have no idea," Lucy replied, exasperatedly.
Natsu continued to hammer away, driving the other dragon slayer back.
"I'm going to make you pay for everything you did to Fairy Tail! And everything you did to Lucy!" he shouted.
Despite the fact that she was in the middle of a violent guild war, and just had the shit beaten out of her, a warm, fuzzy feeling filled her chest. Natsu's rage was powered by love for his friends, not pure vengeance or the guild holding him to an obligation. He truly felt that deeply for them. A lump formed in her throat and she clenched her fists.
"You're through Black Steel! Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist!"
The heat emanated from the attack blasted Lucy, Lir, and Happy full force, even from all the way across the room. Black Steel took the blow right to the chest and crashed into a wall with a thundering boom. The entire battle-mech shook like it was in an earthquake, nearly knocking Lir and Lucy to the ground.
"We have to get out of here!" Lucy exclaimed.
"I can only carry one of you!" Happy cried. "Lucy's too heavy!"
"Shut it, cat!"
The mech lurched as it began to crumble.
"Happy, take Lucy!" Lir shouted.
Happy grabbed they back of Lucy's shirt and took off out the gaping hole in the front of the mech. Lir gave a running start and leapt out into the air. For a split second, she saw the wreckage that used to be the Fairy Tail guild hall, then landed in the bay. The cool water started healing her wounds almost immediately, ridding her of most of the small cuts, bruises and general aches. With a powerful blast of water, she launched herself through the surface and on to the docks.
"Are you guys alright?" She called out to the crowd of mages standing nearby.
"Lir? You came back!"
"Yeah," she laughed nervously.
A clap of thunder drew their attention back to the battle-mech, where a bright, white light glowed.
"That's Makarov!" Warren shouted.
The amount of magical energy pouring from the mech hit them like a gale force wind.
"Are Makarov and José gonna fight?" Vijeeter asked.
Everyone took several steps back and looked prepared to flee. Lir wracked her brain and managed to recall that both guild masters were Wizard Saints, ten of the strongest mages in Fiore. Then, a giant bubble of light appeared around the battle-mech, throwing water into the air. Lightning lit up the sky, striking down from the swirling clouds above. The ground shook, knocking everyone off their feet. Even from their distance, the power emanated from each strike could be felt as though they were standing right next to the fight. The giant explosions of colored light were near blinding and she had to block them out with her hand in order to keep looking.
Suddenly, a hole opened up in the clouds above Phantom Lord's guild hall and a massive, yellow magic circle descended over it. Though she was certain that it was a formidable attack, the light didn't give off an angry energy. Then, a light as bright as the sun exploded from the battle ground. The shade soldiers began to disintegrate, leaving only the confused Fairy Tail mages.
"This is Fairy Law," Erza said.
"What is that?" Gray asked, not taking his eyes off the spectacle.
"A spell that vanquishes darkness with sacred light. It only affects those that the caster sees as their enemy. Incredible, isn't it? It's one of the most legendary spells in existence," she explained.
Lir continued to stare in awe until the light faded away, taking the clouds with it. A moment of stunned silence fell over the crowd as everyone tried to process what they had just seen, before erupting into cheers.
Then, Makarov appeared on the edge of Phantom's destroyed guild hall and they all quieted down.
"We are victorious! But I had very little to do with it. This victory is yours, my children!"
So this chapter took a while because I spent an excessive amount of time rewriting backstories and how I want the rest of the story to go. The changes really don't show up this early, but I don't like to write without a plan. (Also, Lir was turning into an exact copy of another OC of mine - even the "raised by a dragon childhood" - so I had to change some stuff.)
I used Round and Round by Imagine Dragons for this title since the song seems to be about finding a purpose in life, which I think is something Lir deals with, especially in this chapter where she really could have left Fairy Tail and never looked back
Thank you so much for the feedback, it means a lot to me.
Also, I tried to describe a rear naked choke (when Lir tackles Gajeel in the fog) and I really hope it makes sense.